V. I. Lenin

The Fifth All-Russia Conference of the R.S.D.L.P.{1}

DECEMBER21–27, 1908 (JANUARY 3–9, 1909)

Published:Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1977,

      Moscow,Volume 41,

      pages218.2-220.Translated:Yuri SdobnikovTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaCopyleft:V. I. Lenin Internet Archive (www.marxists.org)
      © 2004

      Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under the
      terms of theGNU Free Documentation License.

OUTLINE OF SPEECH ON THE QUESTION OF ORGANISATION{2}

EXPLANATION TO SPEECH ON THE QUESTION OF ORGANISATION{4}

Ideclare that in my speech on the organisational question,
which alone was discussed today, I didn at say nor did I intend
to say asingle wordeither about the attitude of the Caucasians
toGolos
Sotsial-Demokrata{5}or about “Golos Sotsial-Demokrata” in
general. That is why by starting his speech with a statement that onthisquestion there were now no differences between the Caucasians
andGolos Sotsial-Demokrata, Comrade Pyotr of Tiflis had no reason
at all to mention my name. As for the earlier debates, I merely spoke of
the differences betweensomemembers of theGolos
Sotsial-DemokrataEditorial Board and the Caucasians, which were
revealed at the August Plenary Meeting of the C.C. in 1908.

PROPOSAL ON PROCEDURE FOR VOTING RESOLUTIONS

Ifthere is no demand for a vote on any of the resolutions tabled by
someone at the conference, the conference shall vote on the resolution
concerning the direction of the committee’s work.

Ifthere is a preliminary demand for a vote on someone’s resolution as
a basis right away, the demand shall be immediately complied with.

DRAFT RESOLUTION ON PUBLICATION OF CONFERENCE DECISIONS

Theconference requests the C.C. to take steps to publish the conference
resolutions and tabled drafts, and if possible, its minutes or a brief
report as well.

STATEMENT OF FACT{6}

Ideclare that I objected to Comrade Lyadov from the. standpoint, which I
repeatedly emphasised in my speech, that the C.C. has anunquestionableright ofveto.

STATEMENT CONCERNING THE MENSHEVIK DRAFT
ON LIQUIDATING THE C.C.{7}

Theletter of Comrades Martynov and Igorev, which they had promised to place
before the C.C. but heve failed to do over a period of four months, did not deal
with the way the C.C. was to function but with its “right to exist”
(Existenzrecht), i.e., it dealt specifiqaily with the liquidationist plans.

{1}The Fifth All-Russia Conference of the R.S.D.L.P.was held in
Paris from December 21 to 27, 1908 (January 3 to 9, 1909). It was attended
by 16 delegates with vote, among them five Bolsheviks, three Mensheviks,
five Polish Social-Democrats and three Bundists. On the agenda were the
following questions: 1) Reports of the R.S.D.L.P. Central Committee, the
Central Committee of the Polish Social-Democrats, the Bund Central
Committee, the St. Petersburg organisation, the Moscow, Central Industrial
Region, Urals and Caucasian organisations. 2) The present political
situation and the Party’s tasks. 3) The Social-Democratic Duma group. 4)
Organisational questions in connection with the changed political
conditions. 5) Local mergers with non-Russian organisations. 6) Affairs
abroad. On every question, the Bolsheviks conducted a relentless struggle
against the Menshevik liquidators and their supporters. The Conference
resolution “On the Reports” sharply condemned liquidationism as an
opportunist trend and called for the most resolute ideological and
organisational struggle against any attempts to liquidate the Party.

Thework of the Conference was centred on Lenin’s report “On the
Present Moment and the Tasks of the Party”. The Menshevikstried in vain to get the item off the agenda. The Conference adopted the
resolution motioned by Lenin with slight amendments

(see present edition, Vol. 15, pp. 321–24).

Theresolution “On the Social-Democratic Group in the Duma”, motioned
by the Bolsheviks, criticised the activity of the group and stated its
concrete tasks. The Mensheviks objected to any indication of the Duma
group’s mistakes in the Conference decisions and opposed the Central
Committee’s right of veto in respect of the group. The otzovists also came
out against the Leninist line in respect of the Duma group. The Conference
adopted the Bolshevik resolution, whose text included a part of Lenin’s
second variant of “Practical Instructions on Voting for the Budget by the
Social-Democratic Group in the Duma” and all of his “Addendum to the
Resolution on ‘The Social-Democratic Group in the Duma’\thinspace”

(see present edition, Vol. 15, pp. 326–27, 328).

During the discussion of the organisational question, the Bolshevik
proposed a draft resolution stating that the Party should devote special
attention to the establishment and strengthening of illegal Party
organisations, making use of an extensive network of diverse legal
societies for work among the masses. The Mensheviks were actually trying to
liquidate the illegal Party and stop all revolutionary work. In his speech
on the organisational question, Lenin sharply criticised the resolution of
the Menshevik liquidators and their attempts to justify those who had
deserted from the Party in the years of reaction. The Conference adopted
Lenin’s “Directives for the Committee on Questions of Organisation”

(see present edition, Vol. 15, p. 325)

and set up a committee to draft a resolution. The committee, and then the
Conference itself, adopted the Bolshevik draft resolution. The Conference’s
resolution on the local merger of national organisations resolutely
rejected the principle of federalism, which the Bundists supported, as they
wanted workers in the Party to be compartmentalised on national
lines. During the discussion of the Central Committee’s work, the
Mensheviks proposed that its seat should be transferred to Russia and that
the C.C. Bureau Abroad should be eliminated. The liquidationist draft
resolutions were rejected. The Conference adopted a resolution recognising
“the existence abroad of a general Party representative body in the form
of the Central Committee Bureau A road as being useful and necessary”. A
Bolshevik resolution was adopted on the Central Organ; the Conference
rejected the Menshevik proposal to have the publication of the
C.O. transferred to Russia.

TheBolsheviks won a great victory at the Conference in their struggle
against the Menshevik liquidators. The Conference decisions also dealt a
blow at the otzovists. In the years of reaction, the Party was guided by
the decisions of this Conference. Lenin said that the Fifth All-Russia
Conference of the R.S.D.L.P. “has led the Party out on to the road, and
evidently marks a turning-point in the development of the Russian
working-class movement after the victory of the counter-revolution”

(see present edition, Vol. 15, p. 345).

p. 218

{2}On the strength of the short record of Lenin’s speech, it is impossible
to say how fully his speech on the organisational question on December 24,
1908 (January 6, 1909) reflected all the questions listed in the outline,
but these suggest that it may have been written during the debate on the
organisational question.

p. 218

{3}A reference to the Party’s twelve-man Central Committee elected at the
Fifth (London) Congress of the R.S.D.L.P., the five meaning its narrow
group working in Russia. Lenin’s ironical quip about the “angelic order”
of the five seems to refer to the draft resolution of the Menshevik
liquidators proposing to eliminate the C.C. Bureau Abroad and concentrate
all Party guidance in the hands of the five in Russia.

p. 218

{4}Lenin made the statement at the Conference on December 24, 1908
(January 6, 1939), after the slanderous statement by a member of the
Caucasian delegation, the Menshevik N. Ramishvili (Pyotr). It became known
at the Central Committee Plenary Meeting in August 1908 that the Menshevik
liquidators had tried, even before the Plenary Meeting, to have the
C.C. eliminated as the governing body of the Party and its activity
confined to the functions of information. The plan to eliminate the
C.C. was set out in a letter addressed in June 1908 by B. Gorev, a member
of the C.C., and A. Martynov, a member of theGolos
Sotsial-DemokrataEditorial Board, “To All Menshevik
Organisations”. At the Plenary Meeting itself the Mensheviks tried hard to
cover up their intention to liquidate the C.C. (pp. 216–17). The
Bolsheviks exposed the disorganising, anti-Party activity of the
liquidators. The C.C. Plenary Meeting adopted Bolshevik draft resolutions
on all the main items of the agenda. At the Fifth All-Russia Conference
members of theGolos Sotsial-DemokrataEditorial Board Dan and
Axelrod and C.C. member N. Ramishvili, who had credentials from the
Caucasian organisation, took a common, extreme liquidationist stand.

p. 219

{5}Golos Sotsial-Demokrata(The Voice of the
Social-Democrat)—the Menshevik organ abroad, first published in Geneva
and then in Paris from February 1908 to December 1911. Its editors were
P. B. Axelrod, F. I. Dan, L. Martov, A. Martynov and G. V. Plekhanov. From
its first issue, the paper stood up for the liquidators, justifying their
anti-Party activity. Following Plekhanov’s withdrawal from the Editorial
Board over the paper’s liquidationist stand, it crystallised as the
ideological centre of liquidationism.

p. 219

{6}Lenin entered his statement of fact at the last, ninth, sitting of the
Conference on December 26, 1908 (January 8, 1909). The minutes show that
the sitting continued its discussion of the resolution on the
Social-Democratic Duma group. During the discussion of the point on budget
voting, Lenin motioned his wording of this part of the resolution

(see present edition, Vol. 15, pp. 326–27).

In the minutes there is an amendment by M. N. Lyadov proposing that the end
of the resolution “and trade union organisations”should be worded as “after exchange of opinion with representatives of the
trade unions”. Lyadov said this was necessary because the draft resolution
under discussion tended to narrow down the Central Committee’s
powers. Lenin opposed Lyadov’s amendment, saying that the C.C. had the
right of veto in respect of the Social-Democratic Duma group. Lyadov’s
amendment was rejected. The decision on the C.C.’s right of veto in respect
of the Duma group was adopted at tie same sitting. It said that in view of
its responsibility for the work of the group the C.C. must use its right of
veto unhesitatingly “where the group’s decisions threaten to harm the
Party”.

p. 220

{7}Lenin motioned the statement at the Conference on December 26, 1908
(January 8, 1909) during the discussion of the resolution on the Central
Committee’s work. The Menshevik liquidators had tried to liquidate the
Central Committee’s the Party’s governing body even before the Central
Committee’s Plenary Meeting in August 1908. Accordingly, Lenin motioned his
“Statement on the Convocation of the C.C. Plenary Meeting” at the Plenary
Meeting on August 12 (25), 1908 (p. 216). The resolution “On the Incident
over the Convocation of the C.C. Plenary Meeting” was adopted the
following day on Lenin’s motion (p. 217).

p. 220